CHAPTER XIV.
Between morning and noon Mary was sitting on a low cane seat under thesycamores which yesterday had shaded Katharina's brief young happiness;by her side was her governess Eudoxia, under whose superintendence shewas writing out the Ten Commandments from a Greek catechism.
The teacher had been lulled to sleep by the increasing heat and thepervading scent of flowers, and her pupil had ceased to write. Her eyes,red with tears, were fixed on the shells with which the path was strewn,and she was using her long ruler, at first to stir them about, andthen to write the words: "Paula," and "Paula, Mary's darling," in largecapital letters. Now and again a butterfly, following the motion ofthe rod, brought a smile to her pretty little face from which the darkspirit "Trouble" had not wholly succeeded in banishing gladness. Still,her heart was heavy. Everything around her, in the garden and in thehouse, was still; for her grandfather's state had become seriously worseat sunrise, and every sound must be hushed. Mary was thinking of thepoor sufferer: what pain he had to bear, and how the parting from Paulawould grieve him, when Katharina came towards her down the path.
The young girl did little credit to-day to her nickname of "thewater-wagtail;" her little feet shuffled through the shelly gravel, herhead hung wearily, and when one of the myriad insects, that were busyin the morning sunshine, came within her reach she beat it away angrilywith her fan. As she came up to Mary she greeted her with the usual "Allhail!" but the child only nodded in response, and half turning her backwent on with her inscription.
Katharina, however, paid no heed to this cool reception, but said insympathetic tones:
"Your poor grandfather is not so well, I hear?" Mary shrugged hershoulders.
"They say he is very dangerously ill. I saw Philippus himself."
"Indeed?" said Mary without looking up, and she went on writing.
"Orion is with him," Katharina went on. "And Paula is really goingaway?"
The child nodded dumbly, and her eyes again filled with tears.
Katharina now observed how sad the little girl was looking, and thatshe intentionally refused to answer her. At any other time she would nothave troubled herself about this, but to-day this taciturnity provokedher, nay it really worried her; she stood straight in front of Mary, whowas still indefatigably busy with the ruler, and said loudly and withsome irritation:
"I have fallen into disgrace with you, it would seem, since yesterday.Every one to his liking; but I will not put up with such bad manners, Ican tell you!"
The last words were spoken loud enough to wake Eudoxia, who heard them,and drawing herself up with dignity she said severely:
"Is that the way to behave to a kind and welcome visitor, Mary?"
"I do not see one," retorted the child with a determined pout.
"But I do," cried the governess. "You are behaving like a littlebarbarian, not like a little girl who has been taught Greek manners.Katharina is no longer a child, though she is still often kind enough toplay with you. Go to her at once and beg her pardon for being so rude."
"I!" exclaimed Mary, and her tone conveyed the most positive refusal toobey this behest. She sprang to her feet, and with flashing eyes, shecried: "We are not Greeks, neither she nor I, and I can tell you oncefor all that she is not my kind and welcome visitor, nor my friend anymore! We have nothing, nothing whatever to do with each other any more!"
"Are you gone mad?" cried Eudoxia, and her long face assumed athreatening expression, while she rose from her easy-chair in spite ofthe increasing heat, intending to capture her pupil and compel her toapologize; but Mary was more nimble than the middle-aged damsel and fleddown the alley towards the river, as nimble as a gazelle.
Eudoxia began to run after her; but the heat was soon too much forher, and when she stopped, exhausted and panting, she perceived thatKatharina, worthy once more of her name of "water-wagtail," had flownpast her and was chasing the little girl at a pace that she shuddered tocontemplate. Mary soon saw that no one but Katharina was in pursuit; shemoderated her pace, and awaited her cast-off friend under the shade ofa tall shrub. In a moment Katharina was facing her; with a heightenedcolor she seized both her hands and exclaimed passionately:
"What was it you said? You--you--If I did not know what a wrong-headedlittle simpleton you were, I could...."
"You could accuse me falsely!--But now, leave go of my hands or I willbite you. And as Katharina, at this threat, released her she went onvehemently.
"Oh! I know you now--since yesterday! And I tell you, once for all, Isay thank you for nothing for such friends. You ought to sink into theearth for shame of the sin you have committed. I am only ten years old,but rather than have done such a thing I would have let myself be shutup in that hot hole with poor, innocent Perpetua, or I would have letmyself be killed, as you want poor, honest Hiram to be! Oh, shame!"
Katharina's crimson cheeks bad turned pale at this address and, as shehad no answer ready, she could only toss her head and say, with as muchpride and dignity as she could assume:
"What can a child like you know about things that puzzle the heads ofgrown-up people?"
"Grown-up people!" laughed Mary, who was not three inches shorter thanher antagonist. "You must be a great deal taller before I call you grownup! In two years time, you will scarcely be up to my eyes." At this theirascible Egyptian fired up; she gave the child a slap in the face withthe palm of her hand. Mary only stood still as if petrified, and aftergazing at the ground for a minute or two without a cry, she turned herback on her companion and silently went back into the shaded walk.
Katharina watched her with tears in her eyes. She felt that Mary wasjustified in disapproving of what she had done the day before; for sheherself had been unable to sleep and had become more and more convincedthat she had acted wrongly, nay, unpardonably. And now again she haddone an inexcusable thing. She felt that she had deeply hurt the child'sfeelings, and this sincerely grieved her. She followed Mary in silence,at some little distance, like a maid-servant. She longed to hold herback by her dress, to say something kind to her, nay, to ask her pardon.As they drew near to the spot where the governess had dropped into herchair again, a hapless victim to the heat of Egypt, Katharina calledMary by her name, and when the child paid no heed, laid her hand onher shoulder, saying in gentle entreaty: "Forgive me for having so farforgotten myself. But how can I help being so little? You know very wellwhen any one laughs at me for it...."
"You get angry and slap!" retorted the child, walking on. "Yesterday,perhaps, I might have laughed over a box on the ear--it is not thefirst--or have given it to you back again; but to-day!--Just now," andshe shuddered involuntarily, "just now I felt as if some black slavehad laid his dirty hand on my cheek. You are not what you were. You walkquite differently, and you look--depend upon it you do not look as niceand as bright as you used, and I know why: You did a very bad thing lastevening."
"But dear pet," said the other, "you must not be so hard. Perhaps I didnot really tell the judges everything I knew, but Orion, who loves meso, and whose wife I am to be...."
"He led you into sin!--Yes; and he was always merry and kind tillyesterday; but since--Oh, that unlucky day!"
Here she was interrupted by Eudoxia, who poured out a flood ofreproaches and finally desired her to resume her task. The child obeyedunresistingly; but she had scarcely settled to her wax tablets againwhen Katharina was by her side, whispering to her that Orion wouldcertainly not have asserted anything that he did not believe to be true,and that she had really been in doubt as to whether a gem with a goldback, or a mere gold frame-work, had been hanging to Paula's chain. Atthis Mary turned sharply and quickly upon her, looked her straight inthe eyes and exclaimed--but in Egyptian that the governess might notunderstand, for she had disdained to learn a single word of it:
"A rubbishy gold frame with a broken edge was hanging to the chain, and,what is more, it caught in your dress. Why, I can see it now! And, whenyou bore witness that it was a gem, you told a lie--Look here; here arethe laws wh
ich God Almighty himself gave on the sacred Mount of Sinai,and there it stands written: 'Thou shalt not bear false witness againstthy neighbor.' And those who do, the priest told me, are guilty ofmortal sin, for which there is no forgiveness on earth or in Heaven,unless after bitter repentance and our Saviour's special mercy. So it iswritten; and you could actually declare before the judges a thing thatwas false, and that you knew would bring others to ruin?"
The young criminal looked down in shame and confusion, and answeredhesitatingly:
"Orion asserted it so positively and clearly, and then--I do not knowwhat came over me--but I was so angry, so--I could have murdered her!"
"Whom?" asked Mary in surprise. "You know very well: Paula."
"Paula!" said Mary, and her large eyes again filled with tears. "Is itpossible? Did you not love her as much as I do? Have not you often andoften clung about her like a bur?"
"Yes, yes, very true. But before the judges she was so intolerablyproud, and then.--But believe me, Mary you really and truly cannotunderstand anything of all this."
"Can I not?" asked the child folding her arms.
"Why do you think me so stupid?"
"You are in love with Orion--and he is a man whom few can match, overhead and ears in love; and because Paula looks like a queen by the sideof you, and is so much handsomer and taller than you are, and Orion,till yesterday--I could see it all--cared a thousand times more for herthan for you, you were jealous and envious of her. Oh, I know all aboutit.--And I know that all the women fall in love with him, and thatMandaile had her ears cut off on his account, and that it was a ladywho loved him in Constantinople that gave him the little white dog. Theslave-girls tell me what they hear and what I like.--And after all, youmay well be jealous of Paula, for if she only made a point of it, howsoon Orion would make up his mind never to look at you again! She is thehandsomest and the wisest and the best girl in the whole world, and whyshould she not be proud? The false witness you bore will cost poor Hiramhis life: but the merciful Saviour may forgive you at last. It is youraffair, and no concern of mine; but when Paula is forced to leave thehouse and all through you, so that I shall never, never, never see herany more--I cannot forget it, and I do not think I ever shall; but Iwill pray God to make me."
She burst into loud sobs, and the governess had started up to put an endto a dialogue which she could not understand, and which was thereforevexatious and provoking, when the water-wagtail fell on her knees beforethe little girl, threw her arms round her, and bursting into tears,exclaimed:
"Mary--darling little Mary forgive me.
[The German has the diminutive 'Mariechen'. To this Dr. Ebers appends this note. "An ignorant critic took exception to the use of the diminutive form of names (as for instance 'Irenchen', little Irene) in 'The Sisters,' as an anachronism. It is nevertheless a fact that the Greeks settled in Egypt were so fond of using the diminutive form of woman's names that they preferred them, even in the tax-rolls. This form was common in Attic Greek.]
Oh, if you could but know what I endured before I came out here! Forgiveme, Mary; be my sweet, dear little Mary once more. Indeed and indeedyou are much better than I am. Merciful Saviour, what possessed melast evening? And all through him, through the man no one can helploving--through Orion!--And would you believe it: I do not even knowwhy he led me into this sin. But I must try to care for him no more, toforget him entirely, although, although,--only think, he called mehis betrothed; but now that he has betrayed me into sin, can I dare tobecome his wife? It has given me no peace all night. I love him, yes Ilove him, you cannot think how dearly; still, I cannot be his! Soonerwill I go into a convent, or drown myself in the Nile!--And I will sayall this to my mother, this very day."
The Greek governess had looked on in astonishment, for it was indeedstrange to see the young girl kneeling in front of the child. Shelistened to her eager flow of unintelligible words, wondering whethershe could ever teach her pupil--with her grandmother's help if needshould be--to cultivate a more sedate and Greek demeanor.
At this juncture Paula came down the path. Some slaves followed her,carrying several boxes and bundles and a large litter, all making theirway to the Nile, where a boat was waiting to ferry her up the river toher new home.
As she lingered unobserved, her eye rested on the touching picture ofthe two young things clasped in each other's arms, and she overheardthe last words of the gentle little creature who had done her such cruelwrong. She could only guess at what had occurred, but she did not liketo be a listener, so she called Mary; and when the child started upand flew to throw her arms round her neck with vehement and devotedtenderness, she covered her little face and hair with kisses. Then shefreed herself from the little girl's embrace, and said, with tearfuleyes:
"Good-bye, my darling! In a few minutes I shall no longer belong here;another and a strange home must be mine. Love me always, and do notforget me, and be quite sure of one thing: you have no truer friend onearth than I am."
At this, fresh tears flowed; the child implored her not to go away, notto leave her; but Paula could but refuse, though she was touched andastonished to find that she had reaped so rich a harvest of love, herewhere she had sown so little. Then she gave her hand at parting to thegoverness, and when she turned to Katharina, to bid farewell, hard as itwas, to the murderer of her happiness, the young girl fell at her feetbathed in tears of repentance, covered her knees and hands with kisses,and confessed herself guilty of a terrible sin. Paula, however, wouldnot allow her to finish; she lifted her up, kissed her forehead, andsaid that she quite understood how she had been led into it, and thatshe, like Mary, would try to forgive her.
Standing by the governor's many-oared barge, to which the young girlsnow escorted her, she found Orion. Twice already this morning he hadtried in vain to get speech with her, and he looked pale and agitated.He had a splendid bunch of flowers in his hand; he bestowed a hastygreeting on Mary and his betrothed, and did not heed the fact thatKatharina returned it hesitatingly and without a word.
He went close up to Paula, told her in a low voice that Hiram was safe,and implored her, as she hoped to be forgiven for her own sins, to granthim a few minutes. When she rejected his prayer with a silent shrug,and went on towards the boat he put out his hand to help her, but sheintentionally overlooked it and gave her hand to the physician. At thishe sprang after her into the barge, saying in her ear in a tremulouswhisper:
"A wretch, a miserable man entreats your mercy. I was mad yesterday. Ilove you, I love you--how deeply!--you will see!"
"Enough," she broke in firmly, and she stood up in the swaying boat.Philippus supported her, and Orion, laying the flowers in her lap, criedso that all could hear: "Your departure will sorely distress my father.He is so ill that we did not dare allow you to take leave of him. If youhave anything to say to him..."
"I will find another messenger," she replied sternly.
"And if he asks the reason for your sudden departure?"
"Your mother and Philippus can give him an answer."
"But he was your guardian, and your fortune, I know..."
"In his hands it is safe."
"And if the physician's fears should be justified?"
"Then I will demand its restitution through a new Kyrios."
"You will receive it without that! Have you no pity, no forgiveness?"For all answer she flung the flowers he had given her into the river;he leaped on shore, and regardless of the bystanders, pushed his fingersthrough his hair, clasping his hands to his burning brow.
The barge was pushed off, the rowers plied their oars like men; Oriongazed after it, panting with laboring breath, till a little hand graspedhis, and Mary's sweet, childish voice exclaimed:
"Be comforted, uncle. I know just what is troubling you."
"What do you know?" he asked roughly.
"That you are sorry that you and Katharina should have spoken againsther last evening, and against poor Hiram."
"Nonsense!" he angrily broke in. "Wher
e is Katharina?"
"I was to tell you that she could not see you today. She loves youdearly, but she, too, is so very, very sorry."
"She may spare herself!" said the young man. "If there is anything tobe sorry for it falls on me--it is crushing me to death. But what isthis!--The devil's in it! What business is it of the child's? Now, beoff with you this minute. Eudoxia, take this little girl to her tasks."
He took Mary's head between his hands, kissed her forehead withimpetuous affection, and then pushed her towards her governess, whodutifully led her away.
When Orion found himself alone, he leaned against a tree and groanedlike a wounded wild beast. His heart was full to bursting.
"Gone, gone! Thrown away, lost! The best on earth!" He laid his hands onthe tree-stem and pressed his head against it till it hurt him. He didnot know how to contain himself for misery and self-reproach. He feltlike a man who has been drunk and has reduced his own house to ashes inhis intoxication. How all this could have come to pass he now no longerknew. After his nocturnal ride he had caused Nilus the treasurer to bewaked, and had charged him to liberate Hiram secretly. But it was thesight of his stricken father that first brought him completely to hissober senses. By his bed-side, death in its terrible reality had staredhim in the face, and he had felt that he could not bear to see thatbeloved parent die till he had made his peace with Paula, won herforgiveness, brought her whom his father loved so well into hispresence, and besought his blessing on her and on himself.
Twice he had hastened from the chamber of suffering to her room, toentreat her to hear him, but in vain; and now, how terrible had theirparting been! She was hard, implacable, cruel; and as he recalled herperson and individuality as they had struck him before their quarrel, hewas forced to confess that there was something in her present behaviorwhich was not natural to her. This inhuman severity in the beautifulwoman whose affection had once been his, and who, but now, had flung hisflowers into the water, had not come from her heart; it was deliberatelyplanned to make him feel her anger. What had withheld her, under suchgreat provocation, from betraying that she had detected him in the theftof the emerald? All was not yet lost; and he breathed more freely ashe went back to the house where duty, and his anxiety for his father,required his presence. There were his flowers, floating on the stream.
"Hatred cast them there," thought he, "but before they reach the seamany blossoms will have opened which were mere hard buds when she flungthem away. She can never love any man but me, I feel it, I know it. Thefirst time we looked into each other's eyes the fate of our hearts wassealed. What she hates in me is my mad crime; what first set her againstme was her righteous anger at my suit for Katharina. But that sin wasbut a dream in my life, which can never recur; and as for Katharina--Ihave sinned against her once, but I will not continue to sin througha whole, long lifetime. I have been permitted to trifle with loveunpunished so often, that at last I have learnt to under-estimate itspower. I could laugh as I sacrificed mine to my mother's wishes; butthat, and that alone, has given rise to all these horrors. But no, allis not yet lost! Paula will listen to me; and when she sees what myinmost feelings are--when I have confessed all to her, good and evilalike--when she knows that my heart did but wander, and has returned toher who has taught me that love is no jest, but solemn earnest, swayingall mankind, she will come round--everything will come right."
A noble and rapturous light came into his face, and as he walked on, hishopes rose:
"When she is mine I know that everything good in me that I haveinherited from my forefathers will blossom forth. When my mother calledme to my father's bed-side, she said: 'Come, Orion, life is earnest foryou and me and all our house, your father...' Yes, it is earnest indeed,however all this may end! To win Paula, to conciliate her, to bring hernear to me, to have her by my side and do something great, somethingworthy of her--this is such a purpose in life as I need! With her, onlywith her I know I could achieve it; without her, or with that gildedtoy Katharina, old age will bring me nothing but satiety, sobering andregrets--or, to call it by its Christian designation: bitter repentance.As Antaeus renewed his strength by contact with mother earth, so, fatherdo I feel myself grow taller when I only think of her. She is salvationand honor; the other is ruin and misery in the future. My poor, dearFather, you will, you must survive this stroke to see the fulfilment ofall your joyful hopes of your son. You always loved Paula; perhaps youmay be the one to appease her and bring her back to me; and how dearwill she be to you, and, God willing, to my mother, too, when you seeher reigning by my side an ornament to this house, to this city, tothis country--reigning like a queen, your son's redeeming and guardianangel!"
Uplifted, carried away by these thoughts, he had reached the viridarium.He there found Sebek the steward waiting for his young master: "Mylord is asleep now," he whispered, "as the physician foretold, but hisface.... Oh, if only we had Philippus here again!"
"Have you sent the chariot with the fast horses to the Convent ofSt. Cecilia?" asked Orion eagerly; and when Sebek had replied in theaffirmative and vanished again indoors, the young man, overwhelmed withpainful forebodings, sank on his knees near a column to which a crucifixwas hung, and lifted up his hands and soul in fervent prayer.